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Monday, July 18, 2016

Pioneer Day in Cambodia

Alright: Email for those who think Cambodia is cool--

Maybe I didn't mention it enough last year, but Pioneer Day
is one of the biggest holidays in this country. BIGGER THAN CHRISTMAS! Disappointing, but at least they get excited about pioneers. This last week all
the youth spent every hour of free time planning their dance for pioneer day
(which is this coming Saturday). So this was an excellent opportunity for Nimol
and his brothers and sisters to make relationships with members. It was good.
They're all friends now and don't have to ask each other for their names
anymore.

So there is this girl that got baptized in Japan and now she
is in Cambodia. I might have already told you about her. But anyways, she gave
us another referral this week for her cousin, and now he is doing super well.
On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Try in Tuol Kork to see what that
area is all about and if there was anything I could do to help them
improve.

The theme of this week was repentance. I am so grateful for
the Sacrament that we can take every Sunday to renew our baptismal covenants. I
know that our Savior Jesus Christ died to save us from our sins.

A lot of concern comes when we contact people and say that.
We say that Jesus Christ can save you from your sins, and they counter with,
"Well if I did it, I have to suffer for it," and it kind of hung me up
for a sec. Until we were at a recent convert's house later that night and he talked about
an example as a parent. Their kid goes to school and destroys something. The
parent has two options: Leave the kid to suffer the consequences, and kick him
out, or fix the problem as the parent and discipline the kid. Which path
provides a better future for the child? Obviously no child would be able to pay
for something that is expensive by himself. So the message is clear. We suffer
our own consequences the way Jesus would have us suffer, which is by having a
"broken heart and a contrite spirit." It's a lot easier to contact
when people can see that you have similar goals as they do.

Alright. Try to make it another week without a picture of
me. I will have Elder Bostrom take some this week so I can forward to
you.